Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A soft sheer gauzy fabric.
- n. Something delicate, light, or flimsy.
- n. A fine film of cobwebs often seen floating in the air or caught on bushes or grass.
- adj. Sheer, light, delicate, or tenuous. See Synonyms at airy.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fine filmy substance, consisting of cobweb formed by various small spiders, and only, according to some, when they are young. It is seen in stubble-fields and on low bushes, and also floating in the air in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. Threads of gossamer are often spun out into the air several yards in length, till, catching a breeze, they lift the spider and carry it on a long aerial voyage.
- n. A variety of gauze, softer and stronger than the ordinary kind, much used for veils.
- n. Any thin or light material or fabric; also, a garment made of such material; specifically, a thin water-proof outer wrap, especially for women.
- n. A mere trifle; a flimsy, trivial matter.
- Thin and light as gossamer; light: as, a gossamer waterproof or coat.
Wiktionary
- n. A fine film or strand as of cobwebs, floating in the air or caught on bushes etc.
- n. A soft, sheer fabric.
- n. Anything delicate, light and flimsy.
- adj. Tenuous, light, filmy or delicate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A fine, filmy substance, like cobwebs, floating in the air, in calm, clear weather, especially in autumn. It is seen in stubble fields and on furze or low bushes, and is formed by small spiders.
- n. Any very thin gauzelike fabric; also, a thin waterproof stuff.
- n. An outer garment, made of waterproof gossamer.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a gauze fabric with an extremely fine texture
- adj. characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
- n. filaments from a web that was spun by a spider
- adj. so thin as to transmit light
Etymologies
- Middle English gossomer : gos, goose; see goose + somer, summer (probably from the abundance of gossamer during early autumn when geese are in season); see summer1.
Examples
“They would laugh in gossamer tones, and then move on gracefully to someone else, sometimes moving gracefully at speeds exceeding 40 mph.”
Random Ferrettage, Part Deux: Costuming My Whatever-You-Call-Her
“It seems the gossamer should be able to accomplish this with out giving you too much bulk, though it's all purely hypothetical on my part.”
“Professor Rhys, in his Welsh Fairy Tales -- _Y Cymmrodor_ vol. v., p. 75 -- says, that gossamer, which is generally called in North Wales”
Welsh Folk-Lore a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales
“The gossamer is a sign both of approaching autumn and, exactly at the opposite season of the year, of approaching spring.”
“The remark that I shall make on these cobweb-like appearances, called gossamer, is, that, strange and superstitious as the notions about them were formerly, nobody in these days doubts but that they are the real production of small spiders, which swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and have a power of shooting out webs from their tails so as to render themselves buoyant, and lighter than air.”
“It's not easy to put this kind of gossamer dynamic into words, but it was as if the African American population possessed a kind of subconscious forgiveness for the whites around them.”
“The aeronautic spiders are known as "gossamer" spiders, because of the extreme lightness of the filaments that they cast out to the wind.”
“Agostino and Laura, laughing in their hearts at the mother's mysterious veneration for Carlo, had to explain that 'gossamer' was a poetic, generic term, to embrace the lighter qualities of masculine youth.”
“Mukhát al-Shaytan (Satan's snivel), = our "gossamer" = God's summer”
“The attention called into her guest's face a pleasurable glow; he met her with caution, and replied to her in his softest tones, as if there was a kind of gossamer happiness hanging in the air which he feared to disturb by drawing too deep a breath.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gossamer’.
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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truman486's list
Masterbatory Aids
ensorcelled, scintilla, maudlin, lugubrious, frisson, praxis, copasetic, crotch, corollary, bandy, undulating, anthropomorphic and 65 more...
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Interesting
iridescent, luminescent, gossamer, blithe, illusory, halo, cygnet, covet, bloody, iris, pruinose, limerence and 1 more...
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Dean Koontz Life Expectancy
Words I'm learning or investigating that I found by reading Life Expectancy (not all words are in the book).
chutzpah, luminous, torchieres, dunderheaded, inane, lummox, fox-trot, rumba, cha-cha, tango, swing, flub and 37 more...
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Words of Praise
Please contribute lots of panegyrical words—preferably such that are of universal use.
gorgeous, flamboyant, grand, magnificent, iridescent, incandescent, splendorous, coruscating, immaculate, magniloquent, sublime, scintillating and 33 more...
9brandon I say you're both right. Aug 23, 2010
kirinqueen The OED notes that it comes from "goose" + "summer" -- it's a Germanic rather than a Latinate word. Language Hat has a post on it: http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003920.php Jul 8, 2010
cohenizzy Gossamer is probably a meld of Latin Gossypium = the genus of cotton + mare = the sea, that is, sea-foam. Jun 16, 2009
thinkcharlene Seinfeld - Season 9, Episode 13 - "The Cartoon" Feb 14, 2007